Our Mission

The mission of the Spiritual Care Department is to encourage the growth and healing of mind, body, and spirit through a spiritual presence of faith, hope, and love. Patients, families, and staff alike find the hospital chaplain to be an integral member of the healthcare team in the provision of clinical spiritual care.

Chaplains seek to provide a non-anxious presence and safe environment in which persons can process everything from a personal crisis of faith to questions of meaning and purpose. True to its origins, it is the nature of chaplains to walk alongside others in their journey, providing a safe and warm "covering" in difficult times.

In pursuit of this mission, the Spiritual Care Department at Orlando Regional has been characterized by Joint Commission interviewers and state regulatory bodies as a "state of the art" discipline, providing services which distinguish it from other programs across the country.

• Member of clinical trauma team for Level One Trauma Center
• Response to all patient codes
• Presence and availability for crisis intervention and bereavement support
• Therapeutic presence and pastoral support for patients and families
• Participation in clinical rounds and case reviews
• Integration of spiritual care in overall care plan
• Assisting patients in accessing their faith community or spiritual care provider
• In collaboration with community clergy, assure availability of sacramental services per respective faith traditions
• Assistance with processing advanced directives and end-of-life decisions
• Ethics consults
• Certification as Organ Donation Requestor
• Provision of interfaith chapel services and memorial services
• Provision of diverse devotional materials and sacred texts
• Documentation in patient chart of spiritual assessment, care provided, and follow up plan
• Education programs for medical residents, nurses, and other clinicians
• Ministry of presence and pastoral counseling
• Staff debriefings and participation on CISM team

The Spiritual Care Department convenes the Community Council on Spirituality and Healing, an interfaith group of community spiritual care providers dedicated to:

• Improving the quality of spiritual care for patients, families, and staff with due regard for diversity of race, creed, culture, gender, and sexual orientation
• Endorsing interfaith programs and initiatives that are appropriate for the diverse populations served by Orlando Health.
• Developing programs of education for team members and community healthcare professionals, addressing subjects related to spirituality and healing, diversity, and ethics

• Central Florida Coalition on Mental Health and Aging
• Interfaith Council of Central Florida, Inc.
• Central Florida Affiliation to Improve End-of-Life Care
• Community-Based Ethics Committee on Aging with the Senior Resource Alliance
• The City of Orlando’s Council of Clergy

A dedicated Spiritual Care Volunteer program, in collaboration with Volunteer Services, provides specially trained persons from diverse faith communities who work together to provide a wide range of services and programs.

• Escorting loved ones to the bedside in the Intensive Care Units and the Emergency Department Visiting new patients in Cardiology, Neurology, Orthopedics and Oncology to introduce Spiritual Care services Knitting prayer squares and shawls to give to patients Providing a compassionate presence and listening ear to families in the Intensive Care and Cardiac Critical Care waiting rooms Sitting with actively dying patients who have no loved ones nearby Baking goodies for staff appreciation events Providing clerical support for special projects Serving as greeters for special events like the Annual Ethics Symposium.
• Escorting loved ones to the bedside in the Intensive Care Units and the Emergency Department
• Visiting new patients in Cardiology, Neurology, Orthopedics and Oncology to introduce Spiritual Care services
• Knitting prayer squares and shawls to give to patients
• Providing a compassionate presence and listening ear to families in the Intensive Care and Cardiac Critical Care waiting rooms
• Sitting with actively dying patients who have no loved ones nearby
• Baking goodies for staff appreciation events
• Providing clerical support for special projects
• Serving as greeters for special events like the Annual Ethics Symposium

Available for your Needs

• Bibles and interfaith devotional materials are available upon request.
• The chapel is open 24 hours a day to anyone seeking solace through prayers and meditation
• A prayer journal is available for those wishing to have their prayer request remembered by others. The chapel has many regular attendees that appreciate the opportunity to pray for others.
• Prayer Shawls are available upon request.
• Catholic Eucharist is offered every Thursday in the chapel and routinely by our resident priest and Eucharistic visitor. 

1. When you desire prayer or spiritual counseling, or specifically ask to see a chaplain
2. When you or your family desire prayer, communion, baptism, sacrament of the sick, or anointing
3. When you desire a better understanding of your relationship with God, or a need for spiritual guidance and direction
4. When you desire spiritual support as you undergo medical or surgical treatment
5. When you are wrestling with religious issues such as unresolved grief, lack of faith, inability to pray, a sense of being abandoned by God, or experience loss of hope or meaning of life
6. When you need information about community religious congregations 

Outside the hospital, call (321) 841-5111 and ask for the chaplain on duty. Inside the hospital, use any phone and dial "0" for the operator and ask for the chaplain on duty As a patient or family member, you may also ask your attending physician or nurse to contact the chaplain For information on specific services or programs, call the department office at (321) 841-5290.